3 - 15 June 2007: CITES CoP14 in The Hague, NL

The 14. Conference of the Parties to CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) discussed and adopted international wildlife trade regulations off which many directly concern WWF's priority species.

Conference parties agreed on some sound conservation decisions, but also missed opportunities.

In particular, the EU withdrew its proposal to list Cedrela — a group of tropical tree species found in Latin America — on CITES Appendix II following strong pressure from Latin American and Caribbean countries. WWF and TRAFFIC are disappointed that an opportunity was missed to use a CITES listing to ensure better management and measures to control trade of this threatened species.

All the other proposals to list tropical timber species on Appendix II were withdrawn, with one exception — Brazil wood was listed with an amendment to exclude certain items made from it, such as musical bows.